Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka up 39.5-pct in April

May 06, 2014 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 39.5 percent from a year earlier to 112,631 in April 2014 led by India, China, Britain and Russia, data from the state tourism promotion office showed. Middle Eastern arrivals were up 24.8 percent to 5,302 in April with Saudi Arabia up 24.8 percent to 1,026 and Israel up 236 percent to 1,136.

According to published data earnings from tourism rose to 609 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2013 up from 454.5 million US dollars a year earlier, according to data published by the Central Bank.

An official said the data is not compiled by the Central Bank but is based on a survey by the tourism promotion office.

In the first four months of the year arrivals were up 27.6 percent to 534,132.

Arrivals from Western Europe surged 47.9 percent to 37,369 in April with UK arrivals rising 59.6 percent to 12,380. Visitors from Germany rose 59.6 percent to 8,137 and those from France rose 43.2 percent to 5,970.

South Asian tourists rose 28 percent to 27,954 with Indian visitors up 35.8 percent to 17,192. Maldives was up 10.2 percent to 6,860 and Pakistan was up 36.5 percent to 2,764.

East Asian visitors rose 61.4 percent to 18,416.

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